"The first industrial artists experimented with noise and aesthetically controversial topics, musically and visually, such as fascism, serial killers and the occult. While the term was initially self-applied by a small coterie of groups and individuals associated with Industrial Records in the 1970s, it broadened to include artists influenced by the original movement or using an "industrial" aesthetic.[3] These artists expanded the genre by pushing it into noisier and more electronic directions. Over time, its influence spread into and blended with styles including ambient and rock, all of which now fall under the post-industrial music label. The most notable hybrid genres were industrial rock and industrial metal, which include bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, both of which released platinum-selling albums in the 1990s. Electro-industrial music is a more recent development. These three genres are often referred to as simply industrial."

It all started in the Industrial Revolution when the Captain Of Industry Trent Reznor first start making music in factories. He would record machines running and then change the EQs and put reverb and shit and put vocals over it and release it as Nine Inch Nails. Producers used to work 16 hour days back then cuz they didn't have the 40 hour work week yet cuz it was like the 1800's. Yeah that's how it started

I don't often care about industrial genre clarification, because a lot of fans of the original genre starters (Throbbing Gristle, Coil) are very much against the sound I enjoy/want from an industrial group.